LIFE-STUDY OF EZEKIEL
Read and pray: “His feet were like shining bronze, as having been refined in a furnace, and His voice like the sound of many waters.” (Rev. 1:15)
Being Split
In addition to being straight, the calf’s hooves are also split, or divided. According to Lev. 11:4-6, any animal that does not have split hooves is not clean. All clean animals have split, divided hooves. Clean animals, such as the cow and the sheep, have two characteristics: they chew the cud and have split hooves.
The split hoof signifies that in our walk with the Lord we need proper discernment to divide what is right from what is wrong and what is clean from what is unclean. To have a hoof that is not split, like that of a camel, is to have a walk without discernment.
As believers in Christ, we need to have a foot in such a way that we can discern what is right and what is wrong in the sight of God. We need this kind of discernment in our daily Christian walk. We also need this discernment regarding the practice of the church life.
In this country, the term local church has become somewhat popular. Many groups take this term and lightly call themselves a local church. Therefore, we need to be able to discern whether a certain group of believers is in fact a genuine, proper, normal local church. We need the split hooves. We should not be careless, thinking that simply because a group says they are a local church, they must truly be one.
Some groups are genuine and others are not. Some are right and some are wrong. Some are real and some are not. We need discernment. Both in our daily Christian walk and in the church life, we need the split calf’s hooves.
Shining Like Glowing Bronze
Ezekiel 1:7 tells us that the calf’s hooves “sparkled like the gleam of glowing bronze.” The brightness of bronze comes from the heat of the furnace. The more the bronze is burned and tested, the brighter it becomes.
This indicates that we need a walk that has been tested and burned by the Lord. If our walk is tested in this way, it will be bright like glowing bronze, shining on others and becoming a kind of radiance to them. If we are tested and examined by the Lord, our walk will shine like glowing bronze, giving light to others, testing them, and causing them to realize whether their walk is right or wrong.
Likewise, if we have proper discernment concerning what the genuine church life is and if we are tested and examined by the Lord in the church life, then our walk in the church life will be like the brightness of bronze, shining on others and testing them.
But if we are careless and loose, without discernment concerning the church life, everything will be the same to us. Black, white, and gray will seem alike. This means we are unable to exercise any discernment. If this is our case, then our walk will be like a dark stone, without light.
If our walk is a walk of discernment, we will discern all things in our Christian walk, and eventually our hooves will be like glowing bronze. Wherever we go and whatever path we take, our walk will shine upon others, giving them light and testing them.
Freshness and Vitality
In the Bible, the calf represents freshness and vitality. A believer in Christ who enjoys grace and lives in God’s presence is always new and fresh; with him there is no oldness. Sometimes you may meet a brother who is very young humanly, yet spiritually very old, lacking freshness and vitality.
At other times, you may have fellowship with an older brother who is very experienced in the Lord. Whenever he prays, you sense something new and fresh. In all our activities as believers, we should be new and fresh. If we become old, we are no longer living creatures.
The Bible says that a calf leaps and skips (Psa. 29:6; Mal. 4:2). This means that a calf is living. Our Christian walk should not be a dead walk but a “leaping walk,” a walk that is full of life. A calf is young and vigorous, full of energy. We all should be full of life like a calf, coming to the meetings as leaping calves. May the Lord cause us all to leap like calves!
All these points concerning the calf’s hooves are related to our Christian walk. The Christian walk is straight and frank. It is also a walk with discernment, a walk that shines and gives light to others and tests them, a walk that is vigorous, full of life, energy, freshness, and vitality.
When we speak of feet like glowing bronze, we should remember Revelation 1:15, where we are told that the Lord Jesus’ feet “were like glowing bronze, as having been refined in a furnace.” We all should have a walk like the Lord’s walk.
In a later message, we will see that the four living creatures are coordinated together. They can be coordinated only by this kind of life and walk. This life is a life with eagle’s wings and human hands, and this walk is a walk with calf’s hooves.
The Christian life must be this kind of life, and the Christian walk must be this kind of walk. It is by having this kind of life and walk that we, the living creatures, can be coordinated and become one entity.
Coordination is the central point in the first chapter of Ezekiel. However, this coordination depends on all the previous items: the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum, and the four living creatures with the four faces and with eagle’s wings, human hands, and a walk with calf’s hooves.
If we want to have proper coordination, we need such a Christian living and walk. We need a life with eagle’s wings and human hands, and we need a walk with the straight hooves of a calf. May the Lord impress us with all these matters so that we may have proper coordination in the church life.
🌿Enjoy more:
Hymn: Various Aspects of the Inner Life - “The Principle of Incarnation”
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